It sparked interest because one group of researchers reported that it exhibits zero thermal expansion, while being conductive.
[2] However, subsequent measurements by other groups were not able to reproduce those results, but rather found expansion coefficients similar to copper.
Near-zero thermal expansion was observed by Booth et al.
It was found that near-zero thermal expansion (NZTE) in YbGaGe is sensitive to stoichiometry and defect concentration.
However, the near-zero thermal expansion mechanism remains elusive.